Lightning protection and grounding device for vehicle

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a lightning protection and grounding device for a vehicle including: a dipole lightning rod mounted on the vehicle to in advance remove the focusing of an electric field of a lightning strike and to induce the discharge of lightning current when the lightning strike is induced thereto; grounding means disposed on earth to allow the lightning current of the lightning strike induced to the dipole lightning rod to flow to the earth; a connection terminal box adapted to connect the dipole lightning rod and the grounding means with each other; and a lifting driving unit adapted to move the dipole lightning rod in upward and downward directions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2013-0134730, filed Nov. 7, 2013, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a lightning protectionand grounding device for a vehicle which is capable of protecting therelatively expensive vehicle used for a specific purpose from the damageof lightning.

2. Background of the Related Art

Generally, vehicles used for specific purposes (for example, militaryuse, relay broadcasting, mobile communication mobile base station) haveadvanced electronic equipment sensitive to electrical impacts.

Such vehicles used for specific purposes are especially weak to a directlightning strike. That is, if the vehicles are struck by the lightningcurrent of the direct lightning strike, the high-priced advancedelectronic equipment sensitive to an over voltage may be operatederroneously or malfunctioned. Besides, economical damage may occur whenthey are repaired.

Particularly, if the damage of lightning occurs on a militarycommunication vehicle, a radio communication military command system maybe collapsed, thus making it hard to be respond to very urgentsituations.

Accordingly, the vehicle for a specific purpose has a lightningprevention system capable of substantially reducing the probability ofdirect lightning strike and grounding high voltage and high frequencylightning current upon the application of the direct lightning strike toearth to prevent the introduction of the lightning current thereinto,thus protecting the communication equipment from the damage oflightning.

By the way, according to the conventional lightning prevention system, agrounding body should be elongatedly extended outward from both sides ofa vehicle, thus making it inconvenient to be installed on an area wherethe width of a road is small, and further, tens of fixing pins should belocated to fix the grounding body, thus substantially increasing thenumber of workers and the working time for installing the fixing pins.

According to the conventional lightning prevention system, further, adipole lightning rod has a linear structure so that it can beelongatedly extended to a given length, thus being easily broken due toexternal impacts and providing bad portability and keeping ability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of theabove-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an objectof the present invention to provide a lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle that has a dipole lightning rod formed in aninsertion/drawing way and grounding means formed in a foldableassembling way, thus improving carrying, handling and keeping abilitiesand conducting installing and disassembling work in rapid and convenientways.

To accomplish the above-mentioned object, according to the presentinvention, there is provided a lightning protection and grounding devicefor a vehicle including: a dipole lightning rod mounted on the vehicleto in advance remove the focusing of an electric field of a lightningstrike and to induce the discharge of lightning current when thelightning strike is induced thereto; grounding means disposed on earthto allow the lightning current of the lightning strike induced to thedipole lightning rod to flow to the earth; a connection terminal boxadapted to connect the dipole lightning rod and the grounding means witheach other; and a lifting driving unit adapted to move the dipolelightning rod in upward and downward directions.

According to the present invention, desirably, the lifting driving unitincludes a housing box having an entrance/exist formed on the upperportion thereof, ladder members accommodated into the housing box insuch a manner as to be telescopically extended and contracted, anddeviation prevention means adapted to prevent the ladder membersadjacently disposed up and down from being deviated from each other.

According to the present invention, desirably, each ladder memberincludes vertical members spaced apart from each other on one side andthe other side thereof and having a hollow guide hole formed therein, aconnection member connecting the vertical members with each other, and alocking hole formed on the lower portion of one side vertical member.

According to the present invention, desirably, the deviation preventionmeans includes a fixing body disposed on the upper portion of the innerside of the guide hole of the vertical members, the locking protrusionhaving one end coupled to the fixing body and the other end protrudingoutward, and a spring disposed inside the fixing body to elasticallymove the locking protrusion.

According to the present invention, desirably, the vertical members ofthe ladder members adjacently disposed up and down become increased ordecreased in diameter from the bottom to the top.

According to the present invention, desirably, the uppermost laddermember has a fixing member disposed thereon to couple the dipolelightning rod thereto.

According to the present invention, desirably, the ground means isformed of a flat plate disposed behind the rear wheels of the vehicle insuch a manner as to be fixed compressedly to earth by means of thedriving pressure of the rear wheels when used.

According to the present invention, desirably, the grounding meansincludes first and second plates each having given thickness and areaand a ground wire having one end connected to the connection terminalbox and the other end connected to the first and second plates,respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear view showing the lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle according to the present invention;

FIGS. 4a and 4b are perspective views showing the configuration andoperation of the first and second plates of grounding means in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing a fixing member mounted on a liftingdriving unit of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the configuration and operation ofdeviation preventing means mounted on a ladder member in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an explanation on a lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle according to the present invention will be indetail given with reference to the attached drawing.

According to the present invention, a lightning protection and groundingdevice for a vehicle includes a dipole lightning rod 100 mounted on thevehicle 1 to in advance remove the focusing of an electric field of alightning strike and to induce the discharge of lightning current whenthe lightning strike is induced thereto; grounding means 200 disposed onearth to allow the lightning current of the lightning strike induced tothe dipole lightning rod 100 to flow to the earth; and a connectionterminal box 300 adapted to connect the dipole lightning rod 100 and thegrounding means 200 with each other.

First, the detailed explanation on the dipole lightning rod 100 isdisclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2009-0037633 entitled “highperformance dipole lightning rod”, Korean Patent Application No.2009-0037634 entitled “high performance dipole lightning rod”, KoreanPatent Registration No. 0433011 entitled “dipole multi-space chargedistribution type lightning protection device”, Korean PatentRegistration No. 0419977 entitled “dipole space charge dischargedistribution type lightning protection device”, Korean PatentRegistration No. 0460434 entitled “dipole lightning rod”, and KoreanPatent Registration No. 0787569 entitled “lightning protection device”,which are filed by the same applicant as the invention.

The dipole lightning rod 100 is adapted to suppress the occurrence of alightning strike and at the same time to easily emit the lightningstrike to earth if the lightning strike is induced thereto.

The dipole lightning rod 100 has the same or similar configuration as orto the prior art documents as filed by the same applicant as theinvention, and therefore, the detailed explanation on the dipolelightning rod 100 will be avoided.

The grounding means 200 is disposed on earth and serves to allow thelightning current of the lightning strike induced to the dipolelightning rod 100 to flow to the earth.

According to the present invention, the grounding means 200 is formed ofa flat plate which is disposed behind the rear wheels of the vehicle 1in such a manner as to be fixed compressedly to the earth by means ofthe drive pressure of the rear wheels when used.

In more detail, the grounding means 200 includes first and second plates210 a and 210 b each having given thickness and area and a ground wire220 having one end connected to the connection terminal box 300 and theother end connected to the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b,respectively.

That is, the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b are formed of theplate having the given area, thus improving the discharge efficiency ofthe lightning current received from the dipole lightning rod 100 to theearth.

Further, the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b are simply disposedon the surface of earth behind the rear wheels of the vehicle 1, andunlike the existing grounding body, accordingly, there is no need toextend the grounding means 200 outward from both sides of the vehicle,so that the grounding means 200 can be installed even on an area wherethe width of a road is relatively small and the grounding means 200 canbe easily collected when retired, which makes the invention adequate toa military purpose.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 4 b, each of the first and second plates 210 aand 210 b is formed of a foldable assembly having a main plate 211, afirst auxiliary plate 212 connected to one end of the main plate 211, asecond auxiliary plate 213 connected to the other end of the main plate211, and hinge plates 214 adapted to allow the first auxiliary plate 212and the second auxiliary plate 213 to rotate toward the main plate 211.

This reduces the whole sizes of the first and second plates 210 a and210 b, thus allowing them to be easily loaded and kept into the vehicleand further improving the easiness in delivery for their installationand disassembly.

Further, the main plate 211 has a handle 211 a for grasping formed onone end thereof.

Moreover, the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b have a pluralityof through holes 215 formed on the surfaces thereof.

Further, a mounting box 230 is mounted on the vehicle 1 to accommodatethe first and second plates 210 a and 210 b thereinto (See FIGS. 2 and3).

Furthermore, the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b have aplurality of fixing pins 216 whose front ends sharply protrude.

That is, the fixing pins 216 serve to improve the grounding efficiencyand to rigidly fix the first and second plates 210 a and 210 b to theearth.

Like this, the grounding means 200 according to the present invention issimply disposed fixedly to the earth by means of the driving forcepressurized by the rear wheels of the vehicle 1, without being arrangedin a zigzag pattern by a worker.

The lightning protection and grounding device according to the presentinvention further includes a lifting driving unit 400 adapted to movethe dipole lightning rod 100 in up and down directions.

That is, the lifting driving unit 400 is mounted on the vehicle 1 andserves to induce the easy introduction of the lightning current throughthe adjustment of the height of the dipole lightning rod 100. Further,there is no need to elongate the dipole lightning rod 100, andaccordingly, the lifting driving unit 400 serves to prevent the dipolelightning rod 100 from being easily deformed or broken due to externalimpacts.

In more detail, the lifting driving unit 400 includes a housing box 410having an entrance/exit formed on the upper portion thereof, laddermembers 420 accommodated into the housing box 410 in such a manner as tobe telescopically extended and contracted, and deviation preventionmeans 430 adapted to prevent the ladder members 420 adjacently disposedup and down from being deviated from each other.

Each ladder member 420 includes vertical members 421 spaced apart fromeach other on one side and the other side thereof and having a hollowguide hole 421 a formed therein, a connection member 422 connecting thevertical members 412 with each other, and a locking hole 421 b formed onthe lower portion of one side vertical member 421 to insert and draw alocking protrusion 432 of the deviation prevention means 430 thereintoand therefrom.

The deviation prevention means 430 includes a fixing body 431 disposedon the upper portion of the inner side of the guide hole 421 a of thevertical members 421, the locking protrusion 432 having one end coupledto the fixing body 431 and the other end protruding outward, and aspring 433 disposed inside the fixing body 431 to elastically move thelocking protrusion 432.

The vertical members 421 of the ladder members 420 adjacently disposedup and down become increased or decreased in diameter from the bottom tothe top.

That is, if the ladder member 420 at the uppermost position of thetelescopically arranged ladder members 420 is lifted upward, thedeviation prevention means 430 mounted on the lifting ladder members 420operates repeatedly to restrain next ladder member, thus extending theladder members 420.

Contrarily, if a pressure is applied from top to bottom by a worker soas to contract the ladder members 420 extended, the pressure istransmitted to the locking protrusion 432 of the deviation preventionmeans 430, and the locking protrusion 432 elastically moves to releasethe locking restraint. Accordingly, the ladder members 420 aresequentially telescopically arranged and returned to their originalstate.

Further, a fixing member 450 is disposed on the uppermost ladder members420 to couple the dipole lightning rod 100 thereto (See FIG. 5).

The fixing member 450 serves to rigidly fix the dipole lightning rod 100thereto, thus minimizing the shaking of the dipole lightning rod 100.

As mentioned above, the lightning prevention and grounding device forthe vehicle according to the present invention includes the liftingdriving unit 400 capable of lifting the dipole lightning rod 100 inupward and downward directions, so that the introduction of thelightning current can be easily induced through the adjustment of theheight of the dipole lightning rod 100, and since there is no need toelongate the dipole lightning rod 100, the dipole lightning rod 100 canbe prevented from being easily deformed or broken due to externalimpacts.

Further, the ground means 200 is formed of the flat plate disposedbehind the rear wheels of the vehicle 1 in such a manner as to be fixedcompressedly to the earth by means of the driving pressure of the rearwheels when used, so that the grounding means 200 can be installed anddisassembled in rapid and convenient ways and installed even on an areawhere the width of a road is relatively small and can be folded, thusmaking it easy to be handled, kept, and delivered.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by theembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lightning prevention and grounding device for avehicle, comprising: a dipole lightning rod mounted on the vehicle to inadvance remove the focusing of an electric field of a lightning strikeand to induce the discharge of lightning current when the lightningstrike is induced thereto; grounding means disposed on earth to allowthe lightning current of the lightning strike induced to the dipolelightning rod to flow to the earth; a connection terminal box adapted toconnect the dipole lightning rod and the grounding means with eachother; and a lifting driving unit mounted on the vehicle to move thedipole lightning rod in upward and downward directions, wherein thelifting driving unit comprises: a housing box having an entrance/exitformed on the upper portion thereof; ladder members accommodated intothe housing box in such a manner as to be telescopically extended andcontracted; and deviation prevention means adapted to prevent the laddermembers adjacently disposed up and down from being deviated from eachother; and wherein each ladder member comprises: vertical members spacedapart from each other on one side and the other side thereof and havinga hollow guide hole formed therein; a connection member connecting thevertical members with each other; and a locking hole formed on the lowerportion of the vertical members.
 2. The lightning prevention andgrounding device according to claim 1, wherein the deviation preventionmeans comprises: a fixing body disposed on the upper portion of theinner side of the guide hole of the vertical members; a lockingprotrusion having one end coupled to the fixing body and the other endprotruding outward; and a spring disposed inside the fixing body toelastically move the locking protrusion.
 3. The lightning prevention andgrounding device according to claim 1, wherein the vertical members ofthe ladder members adjacently disposed up and down become increased ordecreased in diameter from the bottom to the top.
 4. The lightningprevention and grounding device according to claim 1, wherein theuppermost ladder member has a fixing member disposed thereon to couplethe dipole lightning rod thereto.
 5. The lightning prevention andgrounding device according to claim 1, wherein the grounding means isformed of a flat plate disposed behind the rear wheels of the vehicle insuch a manner as to be fixed compressedly to earth by means of thedriving pressure of the rear wheels when used.
 6. The lightningprevention and grounding device according to claim 5, wherein thegrounding means comprises: first and second plates each having giventhickness and area; and a ground wire having one end connected to theconnection terminal box and the other end connected to the first andsecond plates, respectively.